Executive Summary – December 2019 (Released February 2020)

BDS Analytics’ has released the Cannabis Price Index (CPI) for December of 2019.

The one-of-a-kind CPI is a benchmark of retail sales pricing across cannabis products in select legalized U.S. markets. The index currently reports sales in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon— state markets that generated more than 50 percent of the legalized U.S. sales in 2018. Underlying pricing data is the compilation of actual dispensary transactions captured by BDS Analytics’ GreenEdge® Retail Sales Tracking Platform.

The baseline of measurement represents the launch of adult-use sales in California in January of 2018. In order to standardize retail pricing data for Flower and Concentrates, all transactions are normalized to price per gram. For Ingestibles, Topicals and Vape, sales are converted to a price per unit measure.

BDS Analytics’ CPI is unique in its ability to index retail pricing across all product categories, a significant insight considering the rapid market growth largely driven by branded products in all categories.

BDS Analytics’ CPI for December 2019 stands at 102.13, representing a less than one percent increase from the trailing month. Compared to December 2018, average retail prices have decreased less than one percent. Year-to-date average retail prices have decreased slightly more than one percent.

The index score is positive for Pre-rolled Joints and Topicals, indicating an increase of the average retail price of these product categories relative to January 2018. The remaining product categories including Flower, Vape, Ingestibles and Dabbable Concentrates have negative index scores; average retail prices remained stable when compared to the trailing month. Despite declining prices across many of the major product categories, the CPI increased from the prior month as revenue growth favored categories with higher base prices e.g. Ingestibles, Vape, and Dabbable Concentrates.

GreenEdge® Insights: In December 2019, legal cannabis dispensary sales across Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Nevada reached a combined $589.3 million, nearly a four percent increase from the trailing month and a 13 percent increase from the prior December.

With the holidays in full swing, December is historically a larger month when compared to November. In fact, from November to December in 2018, dollar sales increased by more than five percent. December 2019 saw gains across most product categories from the trailing month. Category share of Flower decreased by roughly one percent, whereas category share of Vape and Ingestibles increased by roughly half of one percent, respectively. This increase in the category share of Vape indicates a notable rebound following the losses resulting from the vape scare in September 2019.

For questions regarding these insights or any other aspect of our services, please contact info@bdsanalytics.com.

About BDS Analytics: Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, BDS Analytics provides businesses with smart, actionable and accurate cannabis market intelligence and consumer research. The company provides a holistic understanding of the cannabis and CBD markets through insights distilled from dispensary point-of-sale systems through its market-leading GreenEdge® Platform, producing comprehensive consumer research and generating cannabis industry financial projections & analyses led by BDS Analytics’ industry-leading team of thought leaders and analysts. To learn more about our CPI or BDS Analytics’ products and services, please contact info@bdsanalytics.com or visit us online at bdsanalytics.com

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